Disclosed is a lost-wax method of casting a product, having steps of: attaching temperature control elements to a wax assembly; encasing the wax assembly and the temperature control elements in a ceramic mold; removing the wax assembly from the ceramic mold; filling the ceramic mold with molten material to form a cast part within the ceramic mold; and separating the ceramic mold and the cast part from each other.

A foundry mold includes at least one molding cavity and one pair of feeder arms. The molding cavity extends, along a horizontal axis, from a first end to a second end, and the first pair of feeder arms comprises a first feeder arm, oriented in a substantially vertical direction and connected to the first end of the first molding cavity, and a second feeder arm, substantially parallel to the first feeder arm and connected to the second end of the first molding cavity.

A process manufactures a metal part for a turbomachine that includes first and second metal materials with different chemical compositions. The process includes the steps of obtaining an element of which at least a first metallic part is made of the first metallic material and placing the element in a first mold and pouring wax into the mold to at least partially cover the element. The first mold has an impression corresponding to at least part of an external surface of the metal part. The process further includes obtaining an assembly by removing the first mold and making a shell mold with a first ceramic around the assembly. The process also includes removing the wax from the shell mold and pouring the second metal material into the shell mold in place of the wax, and removing any ceramics present in the assembly.

Radiation curable compositions for additive fabrication are described and claimed. Such compositions are particularly suited for investment casting applications, and include a cationically polymerizable component, a radically polymerizable component, a certain type of prescribed antimony-free, sulfonium salt-based cationic photoinitiator, and a free-radical photoinitiator. In other embodiments, the composition may also include a photosensitizer and/or a UV/absorber. Also described and claimed is a method for using a liquid radiation curable resin for additive fabrication with a certain type of prescribed antimony-free, sulfonium salt-based cationic photoinitiator and a certain type of prescribed photosensitizer in an investment casting process.

An investment casting process for manufacturing a cast component is provided. The investment casting process includes forming a core, casting the cast component about the core such that a core positioning feature provides a location of an anticipated pilot hole in the cast component, removing the core from the cast component once the casting is completed, locating, forming and sizing a pilot hole to form a resized pilot hole that can receive a sealing plug and installing the sealing plug into the resized pilot hole.

A refractory mold is disclosed. The refractory mold includes a fugitive pattern assembly comprising a hollow sprue that comprises a sprue wall disposed about a longitudinal axis; a pattern disposed outwardly of the sprue wall; and an outwardly extending gate attached to and extending between the sprue wall and the pattern, the hollow sprue, pattern and gate each formed from a fugitive material; and a refractory mold formed on and having a mold cavity defined by an outer surface of the fugitive pattern assembly.

The present disclosure relates to a method of forming a cast component and a method of forming a casting mold. The method is performed by connecting at least one wax gate component to a ceramic core-shell mold. The ceramic core-shell mold includes at least a first core portion, a first shell portion, and a second shell portion, wherein the first shell portion is adapted to interface with at least the second shell portion to form at least one first cavity between the core portion and the first and second shell portions. The core-shell mold may be inspected and assembled prior to connection of the wax gate component. At least a portion of the ceramic core-shell mold and the wax gate component is coated with a second ceramic material. The wax gate component is then removed to form a second cavity in fluid communication with the first cavity.

An investment casting process for manufacturing a cast component is provided. The investment casting process includes forming a core, casting the cast component about the core such that a core positioning feature provides a location of an anticipated pilot hole in the cast component, removing the core from the cast component once the casting is completed, locating, forming and sizing a pilot hole to form a resized pilot hole that can receive a sealing plug and installing the sealing plug into the resized pilot hole.

A method and a fugitive mold for producing a cast-metal part are provided. In some embodiments, the fugitive mold may be formed by three-dimensionally (3D) printing a preceramic resin in the shape of a fugitive mold; curing the preceramic resin to form a preceramic polymer, and pyrolyzing the fugitive mold to convert the preceramic polymer to a metastable ceramic material. The metastable ceramic material may include an amorphous silicon oxycarbide ceramic. A cast-metal part may be formed by filling the fugitive mold with a liquid metal or alloy, and allowing the liquid metal or alloy to solidify over a first length of time. The cast-metal part may then be retrieved by heating the fugitive mold at a temperature lower than the melting point of the cast-metal part for a second length of time longer than the first length of time to disintegrate the metastable ceramic material.

A method is for positioning a hollow workpiece obtained by casting and that enables the workpiece obtained in this way to be machined in accurate manner. The workpiece is obtained by a casting method involving a mold and a sacrificial core inserted inside the mold and serving to form at least one cavity in the workpiece. The workpiece includes surfaces of a first type defined during casting by the surfaces of the mold, and surfaces of a second type defined during casting by the surfaces of the core. A frame of reference for positioning the workpiece is constructed that includes at least three reference points (P1-P3) belonging to surfaces of the second type of the workpiece.